He made an excuse of returning home to welcome a new guest, and the rest of our journey was strained and silent.

The only sound was the boat, slicing through the sea, so much faster than I’d rowed in my stolen kayak. The sky above had lost its cerulean glow, becoming ebony velvet instead. The moon was absent, but stars made up for its no-show with a spritz and bright scattering of silver lights.

Pika and Skittles had snagged a perch on the throttle where Sully commandeered us home, both of them drowsy with their little heads sagging and eyes drooping for rest.

I sympathised with their tiredness. I’d been gliding on a false high ever since Sully hinted how he felt about me, but that’d well and truly popped thanks to my stupid request.

He doesn’t understand, though.

I didn’t ask him to give up part of his business—even though a person’s life should never be someone’s property—I asked him to return what he’d stolen.

I also asked out of my own peace of mind and self-preservation. I doubted I’d ever be safe unless they got what they wanted. And they wanted Sully. It was either share himself around or return them to families who missed them. Send them back to reality and not this fake paradise that had the tendency of scrambling thoughts and twisting desires.

I’d dabbled with another request too.

If you won’t let them go…let me go.

But as the words formed, they’d burned a hole right through my tongue and into my heart. If I was free, I wouldn’t have to watch my back from murdering goddesses, but if I was no longer his…that meant I’d have to walk away from this.

I’d have to admit that my stay here wasn’t just about captivity anymore. It was about fighting for something that could transcend all of that…if we were brave enough to let it.

Asking to leave was no longer just about reclaiming what had been taken from me and staying wasn’t about being weak. I was confused. I was awakening. I’d willingly turned my back on my old life and my parents.

Oh, God.

My stomach ached at the thought of my parents. What were they doing right now? Were they happy? Were they worried? Had they given up, or were they doing everything they could to find me?

The sea rocked us, a comforting soothe that reminded me no matter where they were or I was, no matter whatever life experiences my loved ones enjoyed without me, we were never truly apart.

The ocean was one large link from their continent to mine.

Nowhere was foreign or scary when viewed in that way because everyone on earth was joined in some way or another. Just follow the sea and even Sully’s islands could be found in the vastness of the globe.

Glowing lights of villas, restaurants, and night activities for guests twinkled on the horizon, some blotted out by trees, others flickering with fire in welcome.

Pika and Skittles took wing when Sully gently plucked them off the throttle and placed them into my lap. With a big yawn and a cute chirp, they left our company and vanished into the jungle of Sully’s empire.

Odd that I knew the names of his other islands but not this one.

Did it have an Indo animal name?

Or was it just named after his goddesses?

The sea lapped at the hull as he positioned us alongside the jetty, shutting off the engine and wrapping a huge rope around the post. After locking up and stowing the key, he strode toward me and silently took my hand.

I stood and followed him to the edge of the sleek speedboat, gasping as he positioned me in front of him and lifted me to the jetty. The tingle of his fingers on my waist. The effortless strength of his lift.

My mouth went dry as he leapt the small distance and gave me a look beneath his brows. I honestly didn’t know what that look meant. Mysterious and melancholy, mangled with opinions and feelings that I doubted he’d ever tell me.

It’d grown late, but I wasn’t hungry. After nibbling on fresh produce straight from the source, I felt as if I’d had the healthiest dinner in history. Succulent and delicious from Sully’s attentive gardeners.

Then again, with the way Sully watched me, I wasn’t hungry for food…but something else only he could give me.

Clearing his throat, he strode ahead, expecting me to keep up. He’d taken off his flip-flops and abandoned them in the boat, leaving our bare feet to travel whisper-soft in the sand. Stars were eaten up by the canopy of treetops and cicadas serenaded us with frog ribbits. The shadows of bats darted left and right, scooping up tiny insects drawn to their death by lanterns.

No caique parrots to spy on us, no guests or goddesses to break us apart.

Just us.

Two people.

A man and a woman walking in the moonlight on a tropical island.

No outside world with its rules and expectations. No reminders that we weren’t really a man or a woman, but a slave and an owner.

Sully and Eleanor.

As we rounded the bend that led to the main arteries of pathways, forking to different villas and communal areas, Sully snatched my wrist and stopped me. Looking around, ensuring our aloneness, he backed me slowly, gently against a palm tree.

Unlike the first when he’d grated my cheek into the bark while he sank his hard length inside me, this time, he cradled me until the tree took my weight and he pressed his body against mine.

His erection wedged into my belly, his eyes flashed navy in the darkness, and I went wet instantly.

We both sucked in a breath as he positioned one hand by my head, looping his fingers through the scattered strands of my hair, and the other caressed my body from my breast, to my waist, to the junction of my thighs.

I bit my lip as he cupped me, claiming me like Calico had. Unlike her touch full of contempt and envy, his radiated with lust and possessiveness.

I waited for him to speak or kiss me, but he used silence as foreplay, allowing the muggy air to send shivers down my spine, the fine hairs on my arms to stand up, and the fireflies that lived permanently in my belly to wake up and start to glow.

Not looking away from me, he ducked his knees and shoved his hand under my dress, trailing his strong fingers up the inside of my thigh.

My mind went totally blank. No instincts or alarm bells. Just black, sinful desire.

I was thankful for the tree holding me up because my legs buckled as his touch crept higher and higher, tracing the dampness of my underwear before inching my lingerie to the side and fingering me.

He groaned when he found how slick I was. “I thought you’d be turned off by me…after what I said.”

My mouth only had one purpose…to kiss. Forming words seemed like trying to knot cherry stems with my tongue. “I already know what you are. I’ve already accepted that you’re not the saviour in this story.”

He inserted one finger deep inside me, his shoulder arching up, his chest pressing against mine. His mouth hovered ever so close to kissing me as I parted my lips in a wide, soundless cry.

“You’re saying I’m the villain?”

I shook my head, my hair catching in his hand and the bark. I wanted to reply, to somehow soothe the surprising vulnerability he’d shown, but his one finger became two, jolting me with both pleasure and pain. My inner muscles and delicate parts hadn’t fully recovered from what he’d done to me while high on elixir.

Bruises screamed their protest. A few cuts stung. But my body produced more lubrication, doing its best to welcome his intrusion, rather than fight it. He feathered his touch, massaging some button inside that switched pain into fireworking bliss.